(735i) Squid-Inspired Materials with Tunable Heat-Managing Properties

Advanced heat-managing technologies have attracted widespread attention due to their potential to enhance personal comfort and reduce building energy consumption. Within this context, the development of systems that can merge the advantageous characteristics of both active and passive operating modes has proven particularly attractive. Recently, we have developed squid skin-inspired composite materials with user-tunable heat-managing properties, which feature several key advantages. First, the composites feature the ability to modulate infrared transmittance by > 20-fold and heat fluxes by > 30 W/m² upon actuation with strain (1). Second, the composites’ adaptive infrared and dynamic thermoregulatory properties can be computationally predicted via straightforward models (1,2). Third, the composites can be modified to endow them with breathability, washability, and fabric compatibility (3). Fourth, the composites can be scalably manufactured over areas as large as 0.3 m² by using standard techniques (1). Our combined findings may enable applications of the thermoregulatory materials in multifunctional wearables, food packaging, infrared camouflage, soft robotics, and biomedical sensing.

References:

1. Badshah, M. A., Leung, E. M., Liu, P., Strzelecka, A. A., Gorodetsky, A. A. Scalable manufacturing of sustainable bioinspired packaging materials with tunable heat-managing properties. Sustainability, 5, 434–443 (2022).
2. Liu, P., Leung, E. M., Badshah, M. A., Moore, C., Gorodetsky, A. A. Structure-Function Relationships for Squid Skin-Inspired Wearable Thermoregulatory Materials. APL Bioeng. 7, 046111 (2023).
3. Lee, S., Leung, E. M., Badshah, M. A., Strzelecka, A. A., Gorodetsky, A. A. Manufacturing of Breathable, Washable, and Fabric-Integrated Squid Skin-Inspired Wearable Thermoregulatory Materials. (In Revision, 2024)